Peter Joseph Ferrara (born April 26, 1955) is an American lawyer,

policy analyst Policy analysis is a technique used in the public administration sub-field of political science to enable civil servants, nonprofit organizations, and others to examine and evaluate the available options to implement the goals of laws and electe ...

, and

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

who is an analyst for

The Heartland Institute The Heartland Institute is an American conservative and libertarian public policy think tank known for its rejection of both the scientific consensus on climate change and the negative health impacts of smoking. Founded in 1984, it worked wit ...

. He is former general counsel for the

American Civil Rights Union The American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) is an American legal organization founded by former Reagan Administration official Robert B. Carleson in 1998 as a conservative counter to the American Civil Liberties Union. History Due to a lack of reso ...

. A

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

scholar, he is known for supporting

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of the

Social Security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

program and

climate change denial Climate change denial, or global warming denial, is denial, dismissal, or doubt that contradicts the scientific consensus on climate change, including the extent to which it is caused by humans, its effects on nature and human society, or th ...

ism.

Early life and education

A 2005 profile for the ''Harvard Law Bulletin'' reported that Ferrara recalled at age nine "being transfixed while watching television as

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...

stormed the

1964 Republican National Convention The 1964 Republican National Convention took place in the Cow Palace, Daly City, California, from July 13 to July 16, 1964. Before 1964, there had been only one national Republican convention on the West Coast, the 1956 Republican National Conven ...

." Ferrara grew up in Phoenix, Arizona and graduated in 1976 from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

with an

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in economics

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

and from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1979 cum laude. At Harvard, Ferrara wrote at the student newspaper ''

The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...

''. While in law school, he also participated in the Harvard Libertarian Association. Future Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts attended both Harvard College and Law School with Ferrara.

Career

His senior law school thesis evolved into the debut hardcover publication by the libertarian

Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch Indust ...

in 1980, ''Social Security: The Inherent Contradiction''. From 1981 to 1983, Ferrara served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

and was an associate deputy attorney general from 1991 to 1993. Between those positions, Ferrara became a Heritage Foundation analyst specializing in

issues. He also became an insurance consultant and provided expertise in Social Security to media. In 1987, Ferrara joined the faculty of the

George Mason University School of Law The Antonin Scalia Law School (previously George Mason University School of Law) is the law school of George Mason University, a public research university in Virginia. It is located in Arlington, Virginia, roughly west of Washington, D.C., and ...

and directed its legal writing programs until 1991. As late as 2003, Ferrara has taught there. In the early 2000s (decade), he founded the

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

chapter of Club for Growth and directed the International Center for Law and Economics. As a writer, Ferrara's employers included erstwhile lobbyist and convicted felon, Jack Abramoff, who hired Ferrara to write

op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. O ...

pieces favorable to Abramoff clients. Ferrara doesn't disclose which pieces he is paid to write, but according to a

Business Week ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

article, the specific pieces may have been articles in ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...

'' about the

Northern Marianas Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI; ch, Sankattan Siha Na Islas Mariånas; cal, Commonwealth Téél Falúw kka Efáng llól Marianas), is an unincorporated territory and commonwea ...

and The

Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...

Indian tribe. Ferrara stated that those writings reflect his independently held views on the respective subjects. "I do that all the time. I've done that in the past, and I'll do it in the future." Ferrara was tied to Abramoff again in 2020 in connection with AML Bitcoin after the FBI charged Abramoff with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and violating the Lobbying Disclosure Act. Ferrara wrote op-eds in favor of AML Bitcoin that were placed in ''The American Spectator'', ''Investor’s Business Daily'', and ''The Washington Times''. Ferrara was a senior policy adviser at the Institute for Policy Innovation. In April 2011, Ferrara became senior fellow for entitlement and budget policy at

. He served concurrently as general counsel for the

and policy director of the Carleson Center for Welfare Reform. He was a member of the District of Columbia Bar but is now on inactive status. Ferrara's articles have been published in such outlets as '' National Review'', ''The Washington Times'', ''

The American Spectator ''The American Spectator'' is a conservative American magazine covering news and politics, edited by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. and published by the non-profit American Spectator Foundation. It was founded in 1967 by Tyrrell, who remains its editor-i ...

'', and FoxNews.com. He is a regular guest on the

Thom Hartmann Thomas Carl Hartmann (born May 7, 1951) is an American radio personality, author, former psychotherapist, businessman, and progressive political commentator. Hartmann has been hosting a nationally syndicated radio show, ''The Thom Hartmann Pro ...

radio program.

Viewpoints

In 1987, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' published an op-ed by Ferrara in which he advocated capping the Social Security payroll tax. The newspaper also interviewed Ferrara that year about a proposal by Secretary of Health and Human Services

Otis R. Bowen Otis Ray Bowen (February 26, 1918 – May 4, 2013) was an American politician and physician who served as the 44th Governor of Indiana from 1973 to 1981 and as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Cabinet of President Ronald Reagan fro ...

to expand Medicare; Ferrara criticized the program for "a lot of gaps in medical coverage for the elderly" and found "no basis for just expanding Medicare to take over coverage that private sector provides now." The

George W. Bush administration George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following a narrow victory over Democratic in ...

championed Ferrara's plan to privatize Social Security. Ferrara graduated from the law school in 1979, according to hi
ACRU biography
''National Review'' magazine published his essay "What Is An American?" in its September 25, 2001 issue, after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

.Peter Ferrara
What Is An American?
National Review online, September 25, 2001. In the essay, he claims that "there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan", although census numbers show Afghanistan has roughly ten to fifteen times as many Muslims as the United States. The essay was reproduced in a

chain e-mail A chain letter is a message that attempts to convince the recipient to make a number of copies and pass them on to a certain number of recipients. The "chain" is an exponentially growing pyramid (a tree graph) that cannot be sustained indefinite ...

claiming that an Australian dentist wrote it. Ferrara, reflecting on that essay in 2007, still stood by it and supported "more selective immigration so that the U.S. gets a 'better-educated class of Mexican immigrants.'" Ferrara has also written about climate change, asserting that human activity is not the cause of climate change, that "manmade global warming" is political science rather than natural science, and that actual scientific evidence proves the earth is in a cooling cycle.Ferrara, Peter (May 26, 2013)
"To The Horror Of Global Warming Alarmists, Global Cooling Is Here"
''Forbes'', Retrieved November 26, 2014.

Bibliography

* ''America's Ticking Bankruptcy Bomb'' (2011) * ''Stop the Raid: Social Security the Biggest Rip Off in History'' (with Denison Smith) (2008) * ''Common Cents, Common Dreams: A layman's guide to social security privatization'', , (1999) * ''The Choctaw Revolution: Lessons for Federal Indian Policy'', , (1998) * ''Religion and the Constitution: A reinterpretation'' (1983) * ''Social Security: The Inherent Contradiction'' (1980)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrara, Peter 1955 births Living people American columnists American libertarians Libertarian theorists George H. W. Bush administration personnel George Mason University School of Law faculty Harvard Law School alumni The Heritage Foundation Writers from Phoenix, Arizona People associated with the Jack Abramoff scandals Reagan administration personnel The American Spectator people United States Deputy Attorneys General Virginia lawyers People from Fairfax County, Virginia Harvard College alumni Cato Institute people